The video shows a pair of silicon tweezers snapping off a carbon nanotube and depositing it on the tip of a microscope. It’s a new technique that could revolutionise nano-scale production and become part of future nano-factory assembly lines. So far, nanotubes and wires are chemically grown, but only certain kinds can be made to sprout exactly where they are needed. They also can be shunted over short distances, but not moved around in the precise way the nano-scale tweezers allow for.
The tweezers or “gripper” is made from silicon beams through which a current is sent, pushing the tips tightly together. But not all problems are solved yet: releasing the objects is still a challenge because weak molecular forces make the nano objects sticky, so soldering them onto a surface is needed to release them. The team of researchers of the Technical University of Denmark, University of Cambridge and University of Oldenburg in Germany are currently exploring non-stick coatings for the “gripper”.
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